World war II chronology - June 1942

1 June 1942	The Midway garrison is placed on full alert. 956 British aircraft are sent against Essen, Germany. Due to clouds, few bombs hit their targets, but eleven other towns in the Ruhr area are hit.
2 June 1942	US aircraft carriers Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet rendezvous at "Point Luck", about 390 miles north-east of Midway Island.
3 June 1942	Ensign Jack Reid, flying a PBY Catalina flying boat out of Midway, spots three Japanese ships about 470 miles from Midway. He reports this to Midway. An American air patrol 700 miles west of Midway spots the main body of Japanese ships. An American air patrol pilot reports sighting six large ships west of Midway Islands. An American air patrol pilot reports sighting eleven ships west of Midway Islands, headed east. Two Japanese aircraft carriers in Alaskan waters launch planes against Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Canadian Prime Minister William King coments in his diary that "BC [British Columbia] is pretty much today as Singapore", referring to vulnerability to Japanese attack. Nine American B-17 bombers, each with four 600-pound bombs, take off from Midway to bomb approaching Japanese ships. Nine American B-17 bombers from Midway attack Japanese ships 570 miles from Midway, but score no hits. American B-17 bombers return to base on Midway Island. Four PBY Catalinas are launched from Midway, equipped with torpedoes. (They score one hit on the bow of tanker Akebono Maru.) 170 British aircraft attack Bremen, doing heavy damage to the town and docks.
4 June 1942	Six F4F Wildcats leave Midway for combat air patrols. Eleven PBY Catalinas leave Midway for air patrols. Sixteen B-17 bombers leave Midway to attack Japanese transport ships. Japanese aircraft carriers of the First Striking Force launch 108 warplanes to strike Midway: 36 torpedo-bombers, 36 dive-bombers, and 36 fighters. A Navy PBY Catalina flying boat reports locating the Japanese Fleet 180 miles from Midway. Seven F2A Buffalos, five F4F Wildcats, 16 SBD Dauntless bombers, and 11 SB2U Vindicator bombers launch from Midway to attack the Japanese Fleet and planes. American patrol aircraft spot and report to Midway a formation of Japanese fighters and bombers on their way to Midway. Radar stations on Midway pick up incoming Japanese planes. All of Midway's 66 defense aircraft are now in the air. 25 US fighter planes from Midway meet Japanese planes en route to Midway. Only eight American planes survive, of which only two fly again. Japanese bombers bomb Midway. [86.90] Midway anti-aircraft guns open fire on incoming Japanese bombers. Japanese carriers begin loading planes with torpedoes and armor-piercing bombs for a strike on American carriers. Japanese planes over Midway end their attack and begin returning to their ships. Lieutenant Joichi Tomanaga, flight leader of the Japanese bomber force from the carrier Hiryu, signals the Japanese 1st Carrier Force that the raid had been disappointing, and that a second strike should be undertaken to destroy the airfield. 51 American planes from Midway begin attacking the Japanese fleet. Six Grumman TBF-1 planes from Midway attack the Japanese ships, but do no damage. Only one plane returns to Midway. The all-clear signal is sounded on Midway. During the attack, 11 Japanese planes were shot down, and 53 damaged, out of 108 total. 17 American planes were shot down. Four B-26 bombers from Midway attack Japanese ships, but score no hits. Only one plane returns to Midway. American carriers Enterprise and Hornet launch planes to strike the Japanese fleet. Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the 1st Carrier Force, orders torpedoes removed from his bombers, to be re-armed with high-explosive bombs for a second strike on Midway Island. 11 SB2U Vindicator bombers from Midway reach the Japanese carrier force. Two planes are shot down, and no ships are damaged. 16 SBD Dauntless and Vindicator dive bombers from Midway reach the Japanese carrier force. Two carriers are hit, but cause only minor damage. Eight bombers are shot down. 15 B-17 bombers from Midway attack the Japanese carrier force. They hit nothing, but all planes return to Midway. A Japanese scout plane reports to the 1st Carrier Force near Midway Island that ten enemy ships were spotted heading for the Carrier Force. The Japanese scout plane reports that an American aircraft carrier is among the 10 ships sighted heading for the 1st Carrier Force. Eleven Vindicators from Midway attack the battleship Haruna. No damage is done; two planes are shot down. Commander Chuichi Nagumo orders his planes refitted with torpedoes, to prepare for attacks on American warships rather than a second strike on Midway Island. Japanese planes return to carriers from their attack on Midway. Japanese naval commander Chuichi Nagumo orders his 1st Carrier Force to turn north-west toward the approaching American fleet. The first groups of American bombers from aircraft carriers approach the Japanese 1st Carrier Force near Midway Island. No ships are hit. Of the 41 TBD Devastators sent, only 4 survive. Chuichi Nagumo orders torpedo bombers to launch against the approaching American carrier force. 55 American Dauntless dive bombers from carriers Enterprise and Yorktown descend on the Japanese 1st Carrier Force near Midway Island. American planes pull away from their attack on the Japanese 1st Carrier Fleet off Midway Island. They leave carriers Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu burning uncontrollably. Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu launches two waves of planes against the American carrier Yorktown, near Midway Island. Reinhard Heydrich dies of his wounds from an assassination attempt. Adolf Hitler appoints Karl Herman Frank as new protectorate of Czechoslovakia, and demands the execution of 10,000 Czechs. 24 Japanese planes from the aircraft carrier Hiryu attack American aircraft carriers near Midway. 12 are shot down, but the Yorktown is hit by three bombs. A second wave of 16 Japanese planes from carrier Hiryu attack the American carriers near Midway. Two torpedoes hit the Yorktown. US carrier Yorktown is abandoned. An American PBY pilot reports sighting three burning Japanese ships. Near Midway Island, an American aerial attack by planes from the Enterprise and Yorktown against Japanese carrier Hiryu leaves it badly damaged. An American PBY pilot reports three burning Japanese ships are aircraft carriers. B-17s from Midway and six more Flying Fortresses from Hawaii attack Japanese carrier Hiryu, but score no hits. Six SBD Dauntless bombers and five SB2U Vindicator bombers leave Midway to attack a reported burning Japanese carrier. (They do not find it, as it had already sunk.)
5 June 1942	Japanese submarine I-168 fires on Midway with its 5-inch deck gun. Admiral Isuroku Yamamoto calls off the invasion of Midway Island. American submarine USS Tambor radios Sand Island (Midway), warning of a large enemy force, possibly within striking distance. Eight B-17s take off from Eastern Island (Midway), heading out to intercept a reported enemy force. They find nothing. Off Midway Island, Japanese heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma collide while trying to evade torpedoes from an American submarine. An American PBY pilot from Midway reports two battleships 125 miles due west of Midway, headed west. (The ships are actually Japanese heavy cruisers Mikuma and Mogami.) Japanese carrier Hiryu is scuttled, near Midway Island.
6 June 1942	Japanese submarine I-168 fires four torpedoes at US carrier Yorktown. One hits and sinks US destroyer Hammann, and two hit the Yorktown. American planes attack Japanese cruisers Mogami and Mikuma off Midway. Mikuma sinks, and Mogami suffers heavy damage. (Heavy cruiser Mogami survives, but is out of action for a year.)
7 June 1942	The US aircraft carrier Yorktown sinks. German General Erich von Manstein's army launches an offensive on Sevastopol. Japan invades Alaska's Aleutian islands. Losses at the Battle of Midway: US forces: 307 men, one aircraft carrier, 150 planes; Japanese forces: 3500 men, 4 carriers, 322 planes.
9 June 1942	In Berlin, a funeral is held for Reinhard Heydrich. Karl Frank orders the obliteration of Lidice in Czechoslovakia.
10 June 1942	Free French forces under Brigadier General POierre Joenig abandon Bir Hacheim, about 50 miles southwest of Tobruk. German troops destroy the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia, in retribution for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The men are killed, the women taken to internment camps, and children taken to be raised by German families. The city is burned to the ground, 400 graves are dug up, and new roads are built.
11 June 1942	In North Africa, a battalion of German 21st Panzer Division cuts across Via Balbia road midway between Tobruk and Gazala, reaching the sea. The King of England knights British Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris.
12 June 1942	In Canada, the Chemical Warfare Inter-Service Board develops a set of rules governing use of troops in war gas experiments. Convoy SC-85 from Canada arrives off Liverpool, England. The first full operational rehearsal for the Operation Rutter raid on Dieppe is held, code named Yukon I. The British Navy lands Canadian soldiers on Dorset coast in morning darkness.
13 June 1942	George Dasch, Ernest Burger, Heinrich Heinck, and Richard Quirin, all American citizens of German birth, and members of the German Nazi party, land on the beach of Long Island, New York, from a small row boat. Their mission is to sabotage industrial installations producing war material. (They and four others are soon caught, tried in a military tribunal, found guilty, and six of them are executed in August.)
14 June 1942	The Royal Navy's Second Support Group of six fast modern sloops/destroyers, commanded by Johnnie Walker, complete a battle sinking German submarine U-202 in the Bay of Biscay. Allies withdraw from the Gazala line in North Africa. In Canada, the Director of Military Operations in National Defence Headquarters proposes to the Minister of National Defence that a parachute battalion be organized. Adolf Hitler closes diplomatic channels with the Vatican. American light cruiser Helena, torpedoed at Pearl Harbor, returns to active duty. A dozen American B-24 Liberator bombers from Africa attack Ploesti, Romania. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a submarine sinks four ships off Cap Chat, Quebec, Canada. American forces complete testing their first flyable glider. In the USA, the Co-ordinator of Intelligence (COI) is renamed Office of Strategic Services (OSS). (The organization is later renamed to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).) The Soviet Union and Great Britain conclude a 20-year agreement for joint achievement of victory and a permanent peace settlement. Two ships of Mediterranean convoys Harpoon and Vigorous reach Malta. Of the seventeen supply ships, six were sunk; the remaining nine turned back.
16 June 1942	An Anglo-American convoy reaches Malta.
18 June 1942	Jan Kubis, Josef Gabcik, and five other commandos are killed, or kill themselves in St. Cyril & St. Methodius church in Prague. (The group was responsible for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.)
19 June 1942	Japanese submarine I-26 torpedoes and damages Canadian freighter Fort Camosun off Canada's west coast. Thirteen die.
20 June 1942	Japanese submarine I-26 is sighted off Estevan, British Columbia, Canada. Japanese submarine I-26 shells the lighthouse at Estevan Point on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. This may be the only place in Canada shelled during the war. German General Erwin Rommel's army attacks Tobruk, Libya, with artillery and Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers. German motorized infantry begins movement toward Tobruk from the southeast. Units of 21st Panzer reach Tobruk town and harbor.
21 June 1942	German General Erwin Rommel's army captures Tobruk in Libya, capturing 30-35,000 prisoners, millions of gallons of fuel, 5000 tons of food, 400 artillery pieces, 2000 vehicles, and a huge stockpile of ammunition. (This is the second worst British disaster of the war, next to the fall of Singapore. Adolf Hitler promotes Rommel to field marshal for this accomplishment.) Following the fall of Tobruk, Neil Ritchie withdraws Allied forces in North Africa 130 miles east to Mersa Matruh.
22 June 1942	Quote by French Pierre Laval in a broadcast: "I wish for German victory because without that, communism will soon take over Europe."
23 June 1942	German forces in North Africa cross from Libya into Egypt.
24 June 1942	The second operational rehearsal for the Operation Rutter raid on Dieppe is held, code named Yukon II. Quote by US navy chief antisubmarine warfare expert Captain Wilder D. Baker, to naval commander-in-chief Admiral Ernest J. King: "The Battle of the Atlantic is being lost".
25 June 1942	British General Sir Claude Auchinleck takes over command of the British 8th Army from Neil Ritchie, and withdraws the main Allied force a further 110 miles east of Mersa Matruh to El Alamein, 60 miles from Alexandria. 1004 British bombers attack Bremen, Germany, concentrating on the Focke-Wulf fighter plane factory, the Deschim AG submarine ship yard, and the AG Weser ship yard. 59 aircraft attack fighter airfields. The main targets are hit, and 6500 houses are damaged or destroyed. This is the last operational use of the Manchester bomber.
26 June 1942	In North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel attacks Mersa Matruh with three weak divisions of forty tanks, 2500 motorized German infantry, and 6000 Italian infantry. The United States 82nd Motorized Infantry Division is converted to an airborne unit.
27 June 1942	Convoy PQ-17 sails from Reykjavik, Iceland, headed to Murmansk, Russia. The convoy of 33 ships and a tanker is escorted by six destroyers, two anti-aircraft ships, four corvettes, three minesweepers, and two submarines.
28 June 1942	The German offensive Plan Blue begins on the eastern front. Army Group South begins its attack into southern Russia. 4th Panzer Army attacks east from Kursk, aiming to capture Voronezh. In North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's forces capture Mersa Matruh, taking 6000 prisoners. German submarine U-126 shells and sinks Canadian merchant ship Mona Marie in the Caribbean.
29 June 1942	253 British aircraft attack Bremen, Germany, hitting the Focke-Wulf fighter plane complex and the submarine construction yard.
30 June 1942	In North Africa, panzer tanks of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's forces reach El Alamein. Romania issues three postage stamps marking the 1st anniversary of the liberation of Bessarabia from Russia. At the direction of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin Roosevelt, the Combined Chiefs of Staff rules that no Allied nation would use gas except in retaliation. In Germany, the destruction of European Jews is named Aktion Reinhard, in honor of Reinhard Heydrich. The USSR issues seven postage stamps honoring Soviet heroes of the war. The USSR issues seven postage stamps depicting scenes of war.